And now for something entirely different: 9 Lives to Valhalla!
To quote the Kickstarter page of this delightful game, “9 Lives to Valhalla is a frenetic, gleefully ultraviolent new ttrpg from Gem Room Games about death metal Viking cats earning their seat in Valhalla through glorious violence and death (all 9 of them)!”
If that doesn’t sound great I don’t know what does! The conceit in this game is that the reign of man has ended a long time ago, and now the beasts are in charge. But there are still those who long for the leash, and cats are their sworn enemies. Onward to glorious death(s), in the name of the gods of the Panthera pantheon!
As an important aside, the developers note that “Something worthy of consideration is the historical context surrounding Norse mythology, and its misuse by fascists and other truly despicable people. This is not a game for those people.” Amen to that!
Anyway, onward to creating Cottontail, fearless warrior and bane of all those who would trespass against the Panthera! Cottontail is black, with a small white tuft at the end of his tail. A fierce scar connects his left ear and eye. Loud and boisterous, he has seen a lot of fights. And lived to talk about them. He is tall, a bit fat, I mean muscular, and strong. The quiet approach is not so much for him, and patience is not a virtue in his eyes. From his past, he has a hated nemesis - Fluffybuns, traitor to the worshippers of the Panthera. Fluffybuns and Cottontail guarded a grove dedicated to Leo. Cottontail trusted the younger Fluffybuns, and went to have a quick nap - a food binge left him a tad sleepy. But Fluffybuns betrayed everyone, and let a bunch of filthy poodles in to defile the place and steal anything not nailed down. Cottontail swore to track the poodles and Fluffybuns down, and make them pay!
Cats have four attributes, ranked in dice sizes. Anytime they have to roll, they pick up the dice of the two most fitting attributes, and try to top the roll of two dice Death (i.e. the GM) makes. The higher roll wins. Small details: anytime a die is rolled, something has to die. And if the two rolls match, both sides die in glorious conflict. Luckily, cats have nine lives. As a follower of Leo, Cottontail gets to distribute a D4, a D6, a D8, and a D10, and ends up with Brutality D10, Viciousness D6, Cunning D4, and Ferocity D8.
Now to choose a weapon style Cottontail has mastered. He can use others, but they are likely to break in his mighty paws. He wields Great Weapons, which by default use Brutality and Ferocity. He wields a giant double-headed axe. In addition, Cottontail has been blessed by the Panthera, and I think the Blessing of the Gifted Breath of Mankind’s Babe would work well. This means once per game he gets to give a command to dogs, and they have to obey.
And with that, we are done!
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